Page 23 of Spark

So she did. “I want you to kiss me,” she said, because that was what she desperately wanted.

He grunted, the sound very male and somehow extremely sexy, and slid his hand up the side of her neck to cup her cheek. Tension vibrated through her as she waited, then finally he leaned in and pressed his mouth against hers.

And like the other times they’d kissed, Hattie lost herself in it. She was alive, on fire, her nerve endings sparking through her body. When Dex touched her, when he kissed her, the world stopped spinning.

She’d heard of this, read about it, this kind of chemistry, but she never knew it truly existed, not until Dex kissed her the first time.

Sliding her arms around his neck, she tried to get closer. Dex read her perfectly and lifted her up and onto his lap so she was straddling him, the same way she had when they’d had sex.

A shiver moved through her and she pressed closer, moaning when his thick, blunt fingers slid into her hair and lightly fisted. “How can it be so good?” she said against his lips.

“Fucked if I know, but I can’t get enough of you, Hattie.”

His low, rough words stoked the fire low in her belly. She wanted him, right there, right then—

The sound of the door being unlocked somehow penetrated Hattie’s lust-filled brain and she quickly pulled away. She felt Dex’s fingers flex against her hips like he wanted her to stay right where she was.

She’d just climbed off his lap when Adam and Lucy walked in. Adam had a small smirk curling his lips. Lucy, on the other hand, was full-out grinning, so wide Hattie thought it had to hurt.

“Well, what do we have here?” she said, hand to her rounded belly as she walked to the closest chair and sat down. “We thought we’d pop in, see how you were doing with the kids, but I see you already had help.”

The smirk vanished from Adam’s lips. “No, we’ve just been to see your doctor and were told you need to rest.”

She waved a hand. “I’m fine.”

Adam, looking like a man defeated, sat on one of the footrests in front of her. “Foot, brat,” he said.

She did what he asked, and he slid off her shoe and started massaging her puffy-looking foot. His wife’s eyes rolled back in her head.

When she finally got over the initial bliss of her foot rub, she aimed her green eyes at Dex. “It was nice of you to come and help my girl.”

Dex grunted, not taking the bait.

Lucy’s gaze slid to Hattie and she grinned, eyes sparkling with that we-will-talk-about-this-later look of hers. “Any trouble?”

“No, no trouble. Dex came looking for Hugh, saw I needed help, and pitched in. He hasn’t been here long.” She was overexplaining, wasn’t she? Going by the stupid grin back on Lucy’s face, she so was.

“I like this,” Lucy said, looking smug as hell. “This is good. Couldn’t have worked out more perfect if I’d tried.”

“You did try,” Adam muttered.

“Excuse me?” Hattie said, giving her friend a hard look.

“You two.” She motioned between Hattie and Dex. “My big broody cousin and my best friend. I knew you guys had a little something Christmas Day…”

“It’s not like that,” Hattie said, not entirely sure why. What she and Dex did was no one’s business, but it was more than that. She didn’t want Lucy to get the wrong idea, to think she and Dex were more than they were when Hattie couldn’t have that. Not yet. She had too much to do.

She had to prove that she’d made the right decision, moving here, starting again, not only to her parents.

But to herself as well.

Chapter 7

Could Hattie have denied there was something between them any faster?

Dex glanced over at her as she climbed into the truck beside him. He’d told Hugh and Shay he’d take Hattie home—since they were still waiting on a part for her car to fix it—but really he wanted to take her to his apartment and spend some time alone with the perfect woman beside him.

“In my family, you don’t ask for what you want. You do what’s expected.”